Traditional Building Methods in Ghana

To enable an architect design and detail good but cheap houses in tropical developing countries he or she must have a complete understanding of the methods with which the traditional builder has built his structures. Ghana, for example, has four main climatic zones, which, as will be shown further on, influenced the indigenous building methods through different vegetation, soils, stones etc. in these areas. They are: The coastal plain, the rain forest, the transitional forest and the savannah.(see map No.1)

The traditional building methods in this part are explained for Northern and Southern Ghana.


Article and illustrations by Hannah Schreckenbach (extracted from her book "Construction Technology for a Developing Country", GTZ publications, 1983, pp 21-72 http://www.gtz.de/basin )

Ms Schreckenbach presently lives in her hometown Magdeburg, Germany. She was an early member of the former Ghana Society of Architects that transformed into the GIA (having a reg.no.36) and later became a Fellow of the Institute. She worked for 15 years with the PWD, GNCC and the AESC before joining the staff of the UST Kumasi as a Senior Lecturer in 1975. She eventually returned home to Germany in 1984.